Touch sensing layer and manufacturing method thereof

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a touch sensing layer which comprises at least one first-axis sensing electrode, second-axis sensing electrode, insulating element and conductive bridge. Each first-axis sensing electrode comprises a plurality of first electrode patterns with discontinuity-in-series, and each second-axis sensing electrode is configured to interlace with each first-axis sensing electrode and comprises a plurality of second electrode patterns with continuity-in-series. Each insulating element is continuously formed on the corresponding second-axis sensing electrode, and each conductive bridge is also continuously formed above the corresponding first-axis sensing electrode and crosses the insulating element to connect those first electrode patterns with discontinuity-in-series.

This application claims the benefit of China application No. 201110161051.9, filed on Jun. 15, 2011.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a touch sensing structure and manufacturing method thereof, and more particularly relates to design of a touch sensing layer and manufacturing method thereof.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In recent years, touch sensing technology has been widely applied to various electronic devices used in daily life, serving as input interface for numerous electronic devices, such as display devices, mobile phones or game machines. The technology is to press or touch on a touch sensing device by a finger or a stylus to access or transmit information without operation of other conventional input interfaces (such as button, keyboard or operating rod).

For the above touch sensing device, a touch sensing layer is configured inside so that corresponding touch sensing signals will be generated due to the external press or touch. Referring to FIG. 1 which shows a conventional structure of a touch sensing layer 100. The touch sensing layer 100 is mainly composed of at least one Y-axis sensing electrode 110 and one X-axis sensing electrode 120, wherein the Y-axis sensing electrode 110 comprises a plurality of electrode patterns with discontinuity-in-series, while the X-axis sensing electrode 120 is configured to interlace with the Y-axis sensing electrode 110 and comprises a plurality of electrode patterns with continuity-in-series. In order to avoid short circuit due to electric conduction between the two axes, a corresponding insulation pad 130 is formed at the intersection of the two axes. A conductive bridge 140 is formed on each insulation pad 130 and connected to the Y-axis sensing electrode 110 with discontinuity-in-series to transmit Y-axis sensing signals.

Conventional insulation pad 130 and the conductive bridge 140 are formed as independent entities, so the matter of para-position explain for those independent entities, as shown in FIG. 1, should be considered during manufacturing which may increase the difficulty of manufacturing. Therefore, there is a need for designing a touch sensing layer and manufacturing method thereof to overcome the shortcomings of conventional structure and manufacturing method.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is one of the objects of the present invention to provide a touch sensing layer and a manufacturing method thereof with a continuous structure so as to simplify the manufacturing process.

In order to accomplish the above object, the present invention provides a touch sensing layer which comprises at least one first-axis sensing electrode, second-axis sensing electrode, an insulating element and a conductive bridge. First-axis sensing electrode comprises a plurality of first electrode patterns with discontinuity-in-series, and second-axis sensing electrode is configured to interlace with first-axis sensing electrode and comprises a plurality of second electrode patterns with continuity-in-series. Insulating element is continuously formed on the corresponding second-axis sensing electrode, and each conductive bridge is discontinuously configured corresponding to the intersection of the first-axis sensing electrode and the second-axis sensing electrode and crosses the insulating element to connect two first electrode patterns with discontinuity-in-series.

In order to accomplish the above object, the present invention further provides a touch sensing layer which comprises at least one first-axis sensing electrode, second-axis sensing electrode, an insulating element and a conductive bridge. Each first-axis sensing electrode comprises a plurality of first electrode patterns with discontinuity-in-series, and each second-axis sensing electrode is configured to interlace with each first-axis sensing electrode and comprises a plurality of second electrode patterns with continuity-in-series. Each insulating element is discontinuously formed corresponding to the intersection of the first-axis sensing electrode and the second-axis sensing electrode, and each conductive bridge is continuously configured above the corresponding first-axis sensing electrode and crosses the insulating element to connect those first electrode patterns with discontinuity-in-series.

In order to accomplish the above object, the present invention further provides a touch sensing layer Which comprises at least one first-axis sensing electrode, second-axis sensing electrode, insulating element and conductive bridge. Each first-axis sensing electrode comprises a plurality of first electrode patterns with discontinuity-in-series, and each second-axis sensing electrode is configured to interlace with each first-axis sensing electrode and comprises a plurality of second electrode patterns with continuity-in-series. Each insulating element is continuously formed on the corresponding second-axis sensing electrode, and each conductive bridge is continuously configured above the corresponding first-axis sensing electrode and crosses the insulating element to connect those first electrode patterns with discontinuity-in-series.

In order to accomplish the above object, the present invention further provides a method for manufacturing a touch sensing layer, which comprises: forming at least one first-axis sensing electrode and one second-axis sensing electrode, wherein the first-axis sensing electrode comprises a plurality of first electrode patterns with discontinuity-in-series and the second-axis sensing electrode is configured to interlace with the first-axis sensing electrode and comprises a plurality of second electrode patterns with continuity-in-series; forming an insulating element by a first printing process or a photolithography process; and forming a conductive bridge by a second printing process or the photolithography process.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a conventional structure of a touch sensing layer;

FIG. 2 is a schematic top view of a touch sensing layer in accordance with the first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic top view of a touch sensing layer in accordance with the second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic top view of a touch sensing layer in accordance with the third embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a method for manufacturing a touch sensing layer in accordance with the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Detailed description of some embodiments of the present invention is as follows, and the present invention can also be widely applied to other embodiments. Moreover, elements or structures in the drawings of the present invention's embodiments are described by way of illustration not limitation. Furthermore, in this specification, certain parts of the elements are not drawn completely according to the sizes; some sizes are exaggerated or simplified comparing with other relevant sizes so as to provide clearer description and enhance understanding of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 2, it is the top view of a touch sensing layer in accordance with the first embodiment of the present invention. Touch sensing layer 200 shown in FIG. 2 comprises: a first-axis sensing electrode 210, a second-axis sensing electrode 220, an insulating element 230 and a conductive bridge 240. Each first-axis sensing electrode 210 comprises a plurality of first electrode patterns (hereby 210 a and 210 b represent the first electrode patterns) with discontinuity-in-series, and each second-axis sensing electrode 220 is configured to interlace with each first-axis sensing electrode 210 and comprises a plurality of second electrode patterns (hereby 220 a and 220 b represent the second electrode patterns) with continuity-in-series. The “first-axis” can represent Y-axis while the “second-axis” represents X-axis, or the “first-axis” can also represent X-axis while the “second-axis” represents Y-axis. The forming way as discontinuity-in-series means electrode patterns are not electrically connected to each other but placed on the same line, for example, the first electrode pattern 210 a and the first electrode pattern 210 b are placed on the same column but independently disposed from each other without any connection; while the forming way as continuity-in-series means electrode patterns are electrically connected to each other and also placed on the same line, for example, the second electrode pattern 220 a is connected to the second electrode pattern 220 b with a link and both of the second electrode pattern 220 a and the second electrode pattern 220 b are placed on the same row, wherein the link is covered by the insulating element 230. Hereinafter the meanings of the discontinuity-in-series and continuity-in-series described in other embodiments are similar to the above-mentioned and therefore no more description again.

In the present embodiment, each insulating element 230 (namely the horizontal strip structure shown in FIG. 2) is continuously formed on the corresponding second-axis sensing electrode 220, and each conductive bridge 240 is discontinuously configured corresponding to the intersection of the first-axis sensing electrode 210 and the second-axis sensing electrode 220 (namely the intersection along X-axis and Y-axis) and crosses the insulating element 230 to connect two first electrode patterns 210 a and 210 b with discontinuity-in-series. The insulating element 230 is configured to avoid short circuit between the second electrode patterns when the conductive bridge 240 is electrically connected to the first electrode patterns with discontinuity-in-series which may impact the detecting exactness of the touch point.

Referring to FIG. 3, it is a schematic top view of a touch sensing layer in accordance with the second embodiment of the present invention. Touch sensing layer 300 shown in FIG. 3 comprises: a first-axis sensing electrode 310, a second-axis sensing electrode 320, an insulating element 330 and a conductive bridge 340. Each first-axis sensing electrode 310 comprises a plurality of first electrode patterns (hereby 310 a and 310 b represent the first electrode patterns) with discontinuity-in-series, and each second-axis sensing electrode 320 is configured to interlace with each first-axis sensing electrode 310 and comprises a plurality of second electrode patterns (hereby 320 a and 320 b represent the second electrode patterns) with continuity-in-series. The “first-axis” can represent Y-axis while the “second-axis” represents X-axis, or the “first-axis” can also represent X-axis while the “second-axis” represents Y-axis.

In the present embodiment, each insulating element 330 is discontinuously formed corresponding to the intersection of the first-axis sensing electrode 310 and the second-axis sensing electrode 320 (namely the intersection along X-axis and Y-axis), namely formed on each intersection as a single body, and each conductive bridge 340 (namely the vertical strip structure shown in FIG. 3) is continuously configured above the first-axis sensing electrode 310 and crosses the insulating element 330 to connect those first electrode patterns 310 a and 310 b with discontinuity-in-series. Similarly, the insulating element 330 is configured to avoid short circuit between the second electrode patterns when the conductive bridge 340 is electrically connected to the first electrode patterns with discontinuity-in-series which may impact the detecting exactness of the touch point.

Referring to FIG. 4, it is a schematic top view of a touch sensing layer in accordance with the third embodiment of the present invention. Touch sensing layer 400 shown in FIG. 4 comprises: a first-axis sensing electrode 410, a second-axis sensing electrode 420, an insulating element 430 and a conductive bridge 440. Each first-axis sensing electrode 410 comprises a plurality of first electrode patterns (hereby 410 a and 410 b represent the first electrode patterns) with discontinuity-in-series, and each second-axis sensing electrode 420 is configured to interlace with each first-axis sensing electrode 410 and comprises a plurality of second electrode patterns (hereby 420 a and 420 b represent the second electrode patterns) with continuity-in-series. The “first-axis” can represent Y-axis While the “second-axis” represents X-axis, or the “first-axis” can also represent X-axis while the “second-axis” represents Y-axis.

In the present embodiment, each insulating element 430 (namely the horizontal strip structure shown in FIG. 4) is continuously formed on the corresponding second-axis sensing electrode 420, and each conductive bridge 440 (namely the vertical strip structure shown in FIG. 4) is continuously configured above the corresponding first-axis sensing electrode 410 and crosses the insulating element 430 to connect those first electrode patterns 410 a and 410 b with discontinuity-in-series. Similarly, the insulating element 430 is configured to avoid short circuit between the second electrode patterns when the conductive bridge 440 is electrically connected to the first electrode patterns with discontinuity-in-series which may impact the detecting exactness of the touch point.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a method for manufacturing a touch sensing layer in accordance with the present invention. First, in step S500, a first-axis sensing electrode and a second-axis sensing electrode are formed, wherein each first-axis sensing electrode comprises a plurality of first electrode patterns with discontinuity-in-series and each second-axis sensing electrode is configured to interlace with the first-axis sensing electrode and comprises a plurality of second electrode patterns with continuity-in-series. Next, in step S510, an insulating element is formed by a first printing process, and in step S520, a conductive bridge is formed by a second printing process.

The first printing process is to continuously form the insulating element on the corresponding second-axis sensing electrode while the second printing process is to discontinuously form each conductive bridge corresponding to the intersection of the first-axis sensing electrode and the second-axis sensing electrode and each conductive bridge crosses the insulating element to connect two first electrode patterns with discontinuity-in-series, the structure formed as shown in FIG. 2. Moreover, the first printing process can also be discontinuously forming the insulating element corresponding to the intersection of the first-axis sensing electrode and the second-axis sensing electrode while the second printing process is to continuously form the conductive bridge above the corresponding first-axis sensing electrode and cross the insulating element to connect two first electrode patterns with discontinuity-in-series, the structure formed as shown in FIG. 3. Furthermore, the first printing process can be continuously forming the insulating element on the corresponding second-axis sensing electrode while the second printing process is also to continuously form the conductive above the corresponding first-axis sensing electrode and cross the insulating element to connect two first electrode patterns with discontinuity-in-series, the structure formed as shown in FIG. 4.

The insulating element and conductive bridge mentioned in all the above embodiments are formed by printing process, wherein the first printing process forming the insulating element can be a contact printing process or a non-contact printing process and the second printing process forming the conductive bridge can also be a contact printing process or a non-contact printing process.

For the contact printing process, the printing fixture will contact the first-axis sensing electrode and the second-axis sensing electrode during the process of printing, such as screen printing. For the non-contact printing process, the printing fixture will not contact the first-axis sensing electrode and the second-axis sensing electrode during the process of printing, namely forming the insulating element and/or conductive bridge by jetting ink with a fixture which has a nozzle, such as ink jet printing, continuous jet printing and aerosol printing which adopt the non-contact method. In one embodiment, continuously formed insulating element and conductive bridge can be formed by continuous jet printing; in the other preferred embodiment, discontinuously formed insulating element and conductive bridge can be formed by continuous jet printing collocating with a shutter.

Either photolithography process or the above printing process can be adopted for the first-axis sensing electrode and the second-axis sensing electrode. The insulating element and/or the conductive bridge can also be formed by a photolithography process, such as in step S510 shown in FIG. 5, a continuous insulating element can be formed on the second-axis sensing electrode by the photolithography process, and in step S520, a conductive bridge can be formed on the insulating element by the photolithography process. Or in step S510 shown in FIG. 5, an insulating element can be formed on the second-axis sensing electrode by the photolithography process, and in step S520, a continuous conductive bridge can be formed above the corresponding first-axis sensing electrode by the photolithography process and the conductive bridge crosses the insulating element to connect those first electrode patterns with discontinuity-in-series. The conductive bridge can be made of transparent conductive material or non-transparent conductive material.

Thereby, when forming continuous insulating element and conductive bridge in accordance with the present invention, there is no need to consider the matter of para-position for those conventional independent entities, which reduces difficulty of the manufacturing process.

While, certain embodiments have been shown and described, various modifications and substitutions may be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, it is to be understood that the present invention has been described by way of illustration and not limitations. 

1. A touch sensing layer, comprising: a first-axis sensing electrode comprising a plurality of first electrode patterns with discontinuity-in-series; a second-axis sensing electrode interlaced with the first-axis sensing electrode and comprising a plurality of second electrode patterns with continuity-in-series; an insulating element, continuously formed on the corresponding second-axis sensing electrode; and a conductive bridge, discontinuously configured corresponding to the intersection of the first-axis sensing electrode and the second-axis sensing electrode and crossing the insulating element to connect two first electrode patterns with discontinuity-in-series.
 2. The touch sensing layer according to claim 1, wherein the insulating element and the conductive bridge are formed by a printing process.
 3. The touch sensing layer according to claim 2, wherein the printing process forming the insulating element being at least one chosen from contact printing process and non-contact printing process.
 4. The touch sensing layer according to claim 2, wherein the printing process forming the conductive bridge being at least one chosen from contact printing process and non-contact printing process.
 5. The touch sensing layer according to claim 1, wherein at least one chosen from the insulating element and the conductive bridge being formed by a photolithography process.
 6. A touch sensing layer, comprising: a first-axis sensing electrode, comprising a plurality of first electrode patterns with discontinuity-in-series; a second-axis sensing electrode, interlaced with the first-axis sensing electrode and comprising a plurality of second electrode patterns with continuity-in-series; an insulating element, discontinuously formed corresponding to the intersection of the first-axis sensing electrode and the second-axis sensing electrode; and a conductive bridge, continuously configured above the corresponding first-axis sensing electrode and crossing the insulating element to connect those first electrode patterns with discontinuity-in-series.
 7. The touch sensing layer according to claim 6, wherein the insulating element and the conductive bridge are formed by a printing process, and the printing processes forming the insulating element and forming the conductive bridge are respectively at least one chosen from contact printing process and non-contact printing process.
 8. The touch sensing layer according to claim 6, wherein at least one chosen from the insulating element and the conductive bridge being formed by a photolithography process.
 9. A touch sensing layer, comprising: a first-axis sensing electrode, comprising a plurality of first electrode patterns with discontinuity-in-series; a second-axis sensing electrode, interlaced with the first-axis sensing electrode and comprising a plurality of second electrode patterns with continuity-in-series; an insulating element, each continuously formed on the corresponding second-axis sensing electrode; and a conductive bridge, each continuously configured above the corresponding first-axis sensing electrode and crossing the insulating element to connect those first electrode patterns with discontinuity-in-series.
 10. The touch sensing layer according to claim 9, wherein the insulating element and the conductive bridge are formed by a printing process, and the printing processes forming the insulating element and forming the conductive bridge are respectively at least one chosen from contact printing process and non-contact printing process.
 11. The touch sensing layer according to claim 9, wherein at least one chosen from the insulating element and the conductive bridge being formed by photolithography process.
 12. A method for manufacturing a touch sensing layer, comprising: forming a first-axis sensing electrode and a second-axis sensing electrode, wherein the first-axis sensing electrode comprises a plurality of first electrode patterns with discontinuity-in-series, and the second-axis sensing electrode interlaced with the first-axis sensing electrode and comprises a plurality of second electrode patterns with continuity-in-series; forming an insulating element by at least one chosen from first printing process and photolithography process; and forming a conductive bridge by at least one chosen from second printing process and photolithography process.
 13. The method for manufacturing a touch sensing layer according to claim 12, wherein the first printing process being at least one chosen from contact printing process and non-contact printing process.
 14. The method for manufacturing a touch sensing layer according to claim 12, wherein the second printing process being at least one chosen from contact printing process and non-contact printing process.
 15. The method for manufacturing a touch sensing layer according to claim 12, wherein the first printing process continuously form the insulating element on the corresponding second-axis sensing electrode.
 16. The method for manufacturing a touch sensing layer according to claim 12, wherein the first printing process discontinuously form the insulating element corresponding to the intersection of the first-axis sensing electrode and the second-axis sensing electrode.
 17. The method for manufacturing a touch sensing layer according to claim 12, wherein the second printing process discontinuously form each conductive bridge corresponding to the intersection of the first-axis sensing electrode and the second-axis sensing electrode, and each conductive bridge crosses the insulating element to connect two first electrode patterns with discontinuity-in-series.
 18. The method for manufacturing a touch sensing layer according to claim 12, wherein the second printing process continuously form the conductive bridge above the corresponding first-axis sensing electrode and cross the insulating element to connect those first electrode patterns with discontinuity-in-series.
 19. The method for manufacturing a touch sensing layer according to claim 12, further comprising: forming a continuous insulating element on the second-axis sensing electrode by the photolithography process; and forming a conductive bridge on the insulating element by the photolithography process.
 20. The method for manufacturing a touch sensing layer according to claim 12, further comprising: forming an insulating element on the second-axis sensing electrode by a photolithography process; and forming a continuous conductive bridge above the corresponding first-axis sensing electrode and the conductive bridge crossing the insulating element to connect those first electrode patterns with discontinuity-in-series. 